The newest fitness trends. 

 

Power pull: rowing promises a 'smart, sexy, highly efficient' workout Credit: Alamy

Bye bye Zumba. So long Soulcycle. Now, it’s all about heart-rate monitors, outdoor swimming and trampolining. Here are the new ways to get fit.

Rowing

We know what you’re thinking. How can the rowing machines gathering dust in the corner of your gym possible be the latest exercise fad? Well, just in the way Soulcycle reinvented the exercise bike for the Instagram generation, hip New York fitness studio Row House has made rowing the most talked about workout of the moment.
It’s also Claire and Frank Underwood’s exercise of choice in House of Cards and those are not people to be messed with.
Watch former rugby star Shane Williams capture his X moments...

Promising a “smart, sexy, highly efficient” workout which is high energy, low impact, and works all your muscles, the new rowing is all about sleek machines and trendy soundtracks. But until the boutique rowing studios make their way over here, you’ll just have to use that dusty machine in the gym.

Bracing: try open water swimming Credit: Alamy

Wild swimming

If overcrowded pools and the stench of chlorine put you off swimming, try taking a dip in the open water. The Outdoor Swimming society’s membership has risen from 300 in 2006 to 23,000 this year and in a survey, 83 per cent of its members said swimming outside made them happier and less stressed.
OK, the water won’t be heated but there’s little more invigorating than an icy cold dip in beautiful surroundings and the UK is full of lakes, rivers and seas waiting to be explored and shared on social media. The Sony Xperia X’s 23-megapixel camera will ensure that every image you take is as clear and crisp as your surroundings, even if it can’t share quite how cold they are.
Safety is important when swimming in open water, so do it in a group. The National Open Water Coaching Association runs free 400m Nowca Swim events nationwide. You just pay a one-off £10 fee for a safety wristband that holds your medical records and can help locate you in the water.

Orangetheory

Originating in Florida and huge across the Atlantic already, this intense heart-rate based workout can burn up to 1,000 calories an hour, and keep burning for up to 36 hours afterwards (known as the Orange Effect).
The 60-minute group class centres on a circuit comprising three stations: treadmills, rowers and weight-training blocks, and the name refers to the heart-rate zone you’re targeting – you wear a monitor to track performance. Go above orange and you’ll burn out; stay under it and you aren’t pushing hard enough. As an added incentive, your results are on a screen for everyone in the class to see. No pressure! David Lloyd gyms hold the licence for classes in the UK.

Up and away: get trendy on a trampoline Credit: Alamy

Trampolining

Half the problem with sticking to an exercise routine is that keeping fit just doesn’t seem as fun as when you were a child. Step forward trampolining. No longer just for children’s birthday parties, trampolining has surged in popularity among adults with "bounce parks" popping up nationwide at a rapid rate.
Airspace, Oxygen Freejumping and Gravity Force are just some of the chains offering gravity-defying workout classes. Studies have shown that 10 minutes bouncing on a trampoline can burn as many calories as jogging for half an hour – and it’s kinder on your joints, too.
Grab your Sony Xperia X to take some action shots too – its Predictive Hybrid Autofocus can capture every gurn and grimace mid-flight, no matter how fast you tumble.

Boxerina

Boxing and ballet seem like they’re at opposite ends of the fitness spectrum – one graceful and gentle – the other aggressive and instinctive. But this new workout sees the two combined into a hybrid, which starts with fast boxing movements to get your heart rate up and help tone your body, and then moves on to barre movements for strength and flexibility. It promises to improve "agility, co-ordination, core strength, endurance and power".
In other words, the whole fitness package in one. A dancer’s body with the strength of a boxer? What’s not to love. Try it at paolasbodybarre.com and get your heart pounding.

Floatfit

Just as you’ve figured out what HIIT (high intensity interval training) is, short sharp bursts of intense exercise that burn maximum calories in minimum time, then the latest craze is to do it on water. That’s right. If you thought burpees, lunges, push-ups, squats were tough normally – try doing them while balancing on an inflatable board.
The idea is that because your base is unstable, your muscles have to work even harder to maintain balance, maximising the effect of the 30-minute class. Workouts are done in normal exercise gear, but definitely take a change of clothes, it’s likely you’ll take a few tumbles into the water. Check out aquaphysical.com for more details.